I am new to reloading. I have some once fired factory cases from my .280. They appear to have a thin bright ring just above the head of the case. My reloading manuals say not to use cases with stretch marks in front of the web area. Funny thing is that most of the once fired cases from other guns I have seen show these bright rings as well. I cut one of mine open with a hacksaw and there appears to be no thinning on the inside of the case at this spot. Also there is a photo of a fairly finished case under "step 22" on page 53 of Nosler 5th edition that shows a bright ring on a -06 style cartridge.

Are my cases safe to load? Any thought would be greatly appreciated.

Belini

This is normal. The case expanded to fill the chamber at firing. The case wall ahead of the web swelled out till it contacted the chamber, if you measure the dia over the ring and the dia over the web there will most likly be a .001 or so differnace too. As you cut one open and there is no thining of the case wall I would venture to guess that headspace is OK. Just PFS and load as normal.

That's the test - when in doubt cut it open !

There are three reasons for the bright ring you are describing. The first is, as you have read, the thinning of the brass in that area. The second is simply where the die ends contact with the case during the sizing process. The third is sometimes called the pressure or expansion ring. That is the point the farthest back that the case expands to the chamber size before spring back.

On a once fired factory case, unless there is something very wrong, you should be just fine to reload them. You can always check to see if the case is thinning by running a bent tip wire up the inside of the case wall. If there is thinning the wire will catch the thin spot and you will know right away. A section of coat hanger sharpened in some manner and bent over at the tip 90 degrees by about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch should work just fine to drag up the inside of the case.

In a short time you will be able to tell the difference between a normal ring and one that is from thinning. Most of the time the thinning is not uniform around the case and you'll pick that up right away.

Just make up safe and reasonable loads and your brass should last a long time. The thinning comes from a combination of excessive headspace and or over sizing the brass for that gun and the subsequent stretching of the brass to fill the chamber.

Ideally for a hunting rifle you should move the shoulder back about .002 to .003 when you size the brass. You can check that with a number of commercial tools or you can simply drill a .375 hole in a 1/2 thick piece of metal. De-burr the edge, slip the metal piece over the neck of the case and measure from the base of the case to the opposite side of the metal chunk. Adjust your dies to reduce this number by .002 to .003 and your dies will be properly adjusted for your gun.

Welcome to reloading. Be safe and enjoy.
Joe

Thanks all for the great advice.

Belini